The effectiveness of prison time on reducing people's debts toward the government
| Autor: | Shu-ting Yang, 楊淑婷 |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Druh dokumentu: | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Popis: | 104 When people fail to pay taxes, health insurance fees and fines, the Administrative Enforcement agency in the Justice Department can take them into custody to make them comply. The maximum prison time for such people is 3 months. This punishment is severe and considered by many that such a penalty violates personal freedom and is out of proportion. On the other hand, the supporters of such punishment argue that the social benefits outweigh the costs since people would be more likely to pay and this penalty is rarely abused in an adequate judiciary system. Our study considers both views and tests empirically if prison time is really effective making people pay and how to achieve it with lower social costs. The data stems from 2001 to 2015 and includes 483 cases in which people are incarcerated due to failure to pay taxes, fines or government fees. We conclude that first, prison time is effective to make people pay what they owe to the government. Secondly, a longer prison time does not necessarily yield a higher payback ratio unless the time is long enough. More surprisingly, if the prison time is not long enough, the payback ratio decreases. Thirdly, when people are allowed to pay in installments, it increases the payback ratio. Finally, older people are more sensitive to the prison time than younger people. That is, the payback ratio is in average higher with older people than younger people when serving the same prison time. |
| Databáze: | Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations |
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